BLOOMINGTON - Alan Beaman likely still faces a new trial on murder charges despite an Illinois Supreme Court ruling overturning his conviction in the 1993 death of an Illinois State University student.

McLean County State's Attorney William Yoder said in a statement Tuesday his office will "continue to move forward with the investigation and prosecution of Alan Beaman."

Beaman, now 35, was convicted in 1995 of first-degree murder in the Aug. 23, 1993, stabbing and strangulation of Jennifer Lockmiller, a former girlfriend. He was sentenced to 50 years in state prison.

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the conviction May 22. The case will return officially to McLean County Circuit Court on Thursday for action.

"We are in a position to re-prosecute that case," Yoder said Tuesday evening. "We reviewed the evidence over the past month."

Officials at the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law at Chicago, which has backed Beaman's appeals for more than a decade, expressed regret that Yoder plans to pursue the case. The center will continue in his defense.

Meanwhile, Beaman's mother expressed confidence Tuesday that his time in prison is coming to an end.

"We're glad they (the Supreme Court) made a decision," said Carol Beaman of Rockford. "Now they can get on to the next part."

She said the family hopes Beaman will be given an affordable bond so he can be released. She said her son hopes to celebrate the Fourth of July with his family.

Yoder said the McLean County trial court can set a bond amount for Beaman's release, but "the charges as they existed prior to the initial trial remain in full effect."

"One of the possibilities in this case is a retrial," Yoder said.

"I can tell you this: They are planning to retry Alan Beaman," said Jeff Urdangen, clinical assistant professor of law at the center on Wrongful Convictions. "I wish it were otherwise."

Urdangen said the case against Beaman is weak.

"If someone wants to get a sense of the quality of the evidence against Alan Beaman, they need to read the Supreme Court opinion on how thin the state's case was," Urdangen said. "They used the word 'tenuous' more than once in addressing the quality of the state's evidence."

Beaman's parents, Barry and Carol, have stood by their son throughout this, Urdangen said.

"Mr. and Mrs. Beaman have been very resilient," he said. "They've suffered greatly."

Beaman's parents also look forward to a new day in court, Carol Beaman said.

"It's a chance for people to see all the evidence on the table. People will see the wrong person has been put away," she said, adding she hopes someone will "look at the real killer - whoever that is."

In arguments earlier this year before the Supreme Court, Beaman defense attorney Karen Daniel argued Beaman had inadequate legal representation that did too little to challenge prosecution theories and evidence during his trial. One area of dispute is whether Beaman had time to drive from Rockford to Normal to kill Lockmiller and return home within the defined period of time.

The jury also was not told about a potential suspect identified by police as John Doe, Daniel said.

Beaman, who lived in Rockford and attended Illinois Wesleyan University at the time of the 22-year-old Decatur woman's death, has been in prison since 1995. He has served time at Menard, Joliet and Mount Sterling prisons, and he has spent the last four years at a Dixon prison, about an hour from Rockford.

"He's had a life while in prison. He's improved himself," Carol Beaman said.

She said that when he is asked how he is doing, he consistently uses two words: "fantastic" and "blessed."

While in prison, he has tutored prisoners for general equivalency diploma classes, been a hospice volunteer, coached intramural football and volleyball and gotten an automotive certificate. He also formerly helped publish a Christian newsletter.

"I don't know how many people have told me they've written to him to buoy up his spirits," his mother said. They end up telling her, "he wrote back and he buoyed me up," she said.

"He's had a much closer walk with God."

When asked how her family copes, she replied: "God has been with us always - He hasn't failed us. We can't fail Him."